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PeakOil is You

PeakOil is You

THE Precious Metals: Silver Thread Pt. 2

Discussions about the economic and financial ramifications of PEAK OIL

Re: question buying silver

Unread postby pedalling_faster » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 08:26:17

eastbay wrote:
pedalling_faster wrote:$200,000 ==> 153 ounces. a little over 10 pounds. i would need suspenders to keep my pants up !



It's a little under 10 lbs. A pound is 16 oz for those of you not in the USA.


Gold & Silver are typically sold in Troy Ounces. 31.1 grams

actually there are 14.6 Troy ounces per pound (454 grams.)
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Blacksmith » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 09:14:09

I think the most important point rather than the weight of silver, etc is the gold silver ratio (i.e. spot gold versus spot silver) which has been dropping steadily over the past month.

I look at silver as an investment not as a survival tool.

As long as sheeple have no trust in the dollar, and as governments of all stripes continue to spend like drunken sailors precious metals will increase in value.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Pretorian » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 09:29:00

why would somebody pay 10-20% premium on something that can be illegal tomorrow is beyond me.
There are commodities that officially cost less than their pricetag, like corn or ethanol and the like. I understand that you cant stuff up your anus with as much corn as gold in terms of value, but if value is a concern than perhaps you will have a better shot with diamonds, as Russians did in 1917.
In any case , if a real trouble happens, like famine or something an anus stuffed with corn will do you better than one stuffed with gold I'm sure.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby eastbay » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 10:01:57

pedalling_faster wrote:
eastbay wrote:
pedalling_faster wrote:$200,000 ==> 153 ounces. a little over 10 pounds. i would need suspenders to keep my pants up !



It's a little under 10 lbs. A pound is 16 oz for those of you not in the USA.


Gold & Silver are typically sold in Troy Ounces. 31.1 grams

actually there are 14.6 Troy ounces per pound (454 grams.)


Darn it. Thanks for the reminder. Forgot all about that silly detail. Ok, fine, 12 pounds total ... lol. Still no suspenders yet. Don't even own any.

But we're now at $21/oz for silver and $1294 for gold which is starting to get lofty. I would wait for a dip. In fact, I am waiting for a dip.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby eastbay » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 10:04:53

Diamonds? There's a ... um, well, a premium for those too. And it's nothing to sneeze at.

And unless you know darn well what you're doing with diamonds the premium can be astronomical.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Blacksmith » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 12:51:53

The real problem with diamonds is grading them, different gemologists different grades. Agreed they are portable and difficult to detect but unless you are a Russian émigré I suggest you stick with precious metals.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby patience » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 22:09:57

Quote: "....have a bit of the silver for bread and eggs."

I have bread, eggs, and the means to produce more of them, along with many other things. Have a little silver, bought as a hedge, and will dump it sometime before year end, before that gets too complicated and expensive. That money will go into more productive things.

If I were very wealthy, and had all the means I needed to supply our own needs, THEN, I would be interested in something to preserve the extra wealth. But it wouldn't be PM's.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Revi » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 23:13:16

I think you want to buy pre-64 US silver coins. You can pick them up for close to the spot price of silver and they will probably gain in numismatic value, but even if they don't they still have their silver value.

You can't go wrong with them, in my opinion.

They can be found at most coin shops.

Franklin halves and the Peace dollars are sold at near their silver value and hold their value nicely.

They were going for around 14 times face value recently.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby eastbay » Wed 22 Sep 2010, 23:52:23

Revi wrote:I think you want to buy pre-64 US silver coins. You can pick them up for close to the spot price of silver and they will probably gain in numismatic value, but even if they don't they still have their silver value.

You can't go wrong with them, in my opinion.

They can be found at most coin shops.

Franklin halves and the Peace dollars are sold at near their silver value and hold their value nicely.

They were going for around 14 times face value recently.



Agree. If you're going to buy silver (store a relatively small amount of wealth safe from inflationary pressure), this is the way to go in most cases. Everyone knows what it is. Easy to unload. Simple. :)
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby patience » Thu 23 Sep 2010, 09:12:42

eastbay said:
"Agree. If you're going to buy silver (store a relatively small amount of wealth safe from inflationary pressure), this is the way to go in most cases. Everyone knows what it is. Easy to unload. Simple."

Yeah, me too. It's the dealer rakeoff and taxes that really put me off of PM's as a hedge, though. That "haircut" is stiff enough that I continue to look hard at any other means of hedging inflation. I bought silver at $13 spot, so with it at $21 now, that should be a profit of 61%, right? But not so. I'll be lucky to end up with half of that "profit" in my hand.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Revi » Thu 23 Sep 2010, 10:36:37

The way to sell the stuff is to get a booth at a local consignment shop and put some coins out in their case.

I have two consignment shops where I sell pre-64 silver at red book prices. The consignment shop takes from 10-15% of the selling price, but you don't have to be there and that's a lot better than the blue book prices you will have to sell for at the coin dealers. The difference is that the coin dealer will give you money on the spot, whereas you have to wait for things to sell in the consignment shop.

I also collect and sell cast iron pots and pans, so it works out well.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Revi » Fri 24 Sep 2010, 22:47:39

You won't be getting silver for less than around 16 times face value any more.

It looks like silver is going to hold over $21 now.

We'll see...
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby patience » Sat 25 Sep 2010, 07:12:57

Silver is a rather small market compared to gold, so intervention of whatever sort could have a bigger impact. I tend to think that isn't a big deal, however, since gold gets most of the attention by TPTB. Silver is presently undervalued, compared to its' past price ratio to gold. A few years ago, silver traded at around 54 to one with gold, and the current prices of $21.40 vs $1297 = 60.6 to one. Reverting to 54 to one would put silver at $24.01. Therefore, I think silver has a ways to go yet on that basis alone.

Some have said that if QE II becomes reality, that gold could hit $1500 as confidence in the dollar would erode further. If that happens and the silver ratio goes back to 54 to one, the result would be silver at $27.77, but don't hold your breath for that to happen. I'm just pointing out the possible upside within a year or so.

Accordingly, $21 would look pretty good in retrospect. What price to buy PM's is strictly a matter of what you believe the future holds for them. If we consider the prices of PM's, not counting manipulation, to be a fixed intrinsic value, then what we are seeing is the erosion of perceived value of fiat currencies. With the majority of the world impossibly indebted to bankers, it looks like a safe bet that devaluations of fiats will continue for a while. If that be so, then, absent any worries about govts. messing with PM dealings, the current rice of PM's shouldn't be a big consideration.

But, then, any investment in PM's is a bet that govts. and big banks will continue to trash the currencies, right? You pays yer nickle and takes yer chances.

My preference for the form of silver is US junk coins, with the attributes others have noted.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Blacksmith » Sun 26 Sep 2010, 01:26:59

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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Revi » Sun 26 Sep 2010, 18:41:09

That debt clock is amazing. I looked at a lot of the readouts. Good luck getting over a hundred thousand dollars out of every taxpayer. You can't get blood from a turnip I say.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Maddog78 » Wed 06 Oct 2010, 10:24:37

I bought 40 of these last Monday.
I like the Wolf design. :mrgreen:

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http://www.apmex.com/Product/59085/2011 ... ries_.aspx
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Revi » Wed 06 Oct 2010, 17:57:06

Those are really nice. I thought that Canada only had the maple leaf design.

I just got an 1842 Mexican 8 real coin. The real was the inspiration for the dollar.

It is only worth about $20, but it's a really neat coin.

Image

It might be worth more this afternoon, since the price of silver seems to be headed for the stratosphere:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Ayoob » Sun 10 Oct 2010, 02:12:37

It's fun to read these precious metal threads. A couple years ago I bought silver for a relative of mine. Thousands of ounces. It was over 135 pounds, if I remember correctly. I recall hurting my back pretty good carrying that steel bucket up the stairs with a glock in the back of my pants.

Good times.

Bought in at $7.XX, predicted a 300-500% upward move in the value of silver. Got the 300% part right, we'll see if she runs to 500%.

At that time, the silver represented less than 5% of that relative's fortune. Today it represents over 15%. At the time of the purchase, I said that when it represents 50%, that it's time to liquidate all stocks and bonds, and to buy food/water/bullets/canned heat.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Revi » Tue 12 Oct 2010, 20:55:23

I think the silver/gold thing is actually very scary. It means that all fiat currencies are in a race to the bottom. It will cost a lot more paper dollars for a loaf of bread and a gallon of gas soon.

Silver and gold are a hedge, but there are really bad times coming soon.
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Re: question buying silver

Unread postby Cloud9 » Tue 12 Oct 2010, 21:13:25

One of the things you might consider is a silver ware. I just bought the wife some serving pieces and she didn't even hic up at the price.
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